


The Forrest Through the Trees

by Blackbirds_Fallen_Angel



Series: JADE (Prologue) [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Action/Adventure, Canon Compliant, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-06
Updated: 2018-03-06
Packaged: 2019-03-27 23:43:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13891623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blackbirds_Fallen_Angel/pseuds/Blackbirds_Fallen_Angel
Summary: As the new semester begins at Beacon Academy, the incoming first-year students prepare for the initiation test that Professor Ozpin has planned. The question on everyone's mind is, what will it be?The story focuses on the (mis)adventures of Jackson Corvus and his friends, and their eventual battle with the growing darkness.





	1. First Steps, Giant Leaps

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first work I've posted, so I hope this does well. I hope that y'all enjoy following Jack and company throughout their adventures in Remnant!

The room was packed with first-year students, each one giddy with anticipation of the day’s events. Each person present was gearing up and arming themselves for their first day as huntsmen and huntresses in training. Everyone save the proctors, being the Headmaster of Beacon Academy Professor Ozpin and his ever-present assistant Glynda Goodwitch, who stood off to one side of the room, alternating between watching the students before them and glancing at the scrolls in their hands. Each one seemingly more focused on preparing themselves for what was to come, all but one group of four which slightly separate from the group. This group was comprised of Jackson Corvus, a Vacuo-born Wolf Faunus known amongst his friends and enemies for his wisecracks and very short fuse to an extremely explosive temper, Amber Lebeau, a runaway originally from Mistral who had been to every continent in Remnant and had developed a fascination with big guns that make bigger noises, and the twins Daniel and Emma Greene, who were born into a high-class military family, although only Daniel acted the part of disciplined warrior.

“Sheesh this place stinks. When was the last time they cleaned this locker room?” Emma said, pinching her nose shut with her thumb and forefinger. “I mean, it’s our first day at Beacon. I’m not expecting the red carpet, but a little soap and bleach wouldn’t hurt…” Keeping her nose pinched closed, she put on her pinstriped fedora and slipped her arm and head through the shoulder strap of her Tommy gun, affectionately named Saturn’s Special, letting it hang at her side and resting her forearm on the barrel. She sat down on the bench in front of her locker with a huff. As her teal eyes furtively scanned the room for something to focus her attention on, her shoulder-length brown hair tied tightly in a ponytail flew around her. While she was admittedly the most hyper member of the group, she always took extreme care with her attire. Every fiber of her black and white pinstriped suit was form-fitting and elegant. The only hair out of place was the fact that her ice-blue tie was loose.

“Have some respect, Emma. We are here at the graces of Ozpin and Ms. Goodwitch. What would they say if they heard you speak like that?” Daniel said, his leaf green eyes casting a sharp glance at his sister as he tightened the cords on his combat tunic. Fashioned from a lightweight thread with Burn Dust woven into the fabric and forest green in color, his tunic almost seemed to be more a part of his being than a piece of woven cloth. After straightening the front of his tunic and looking every part the master martial artist he was, he sat on the bench next to his sister and crossed his legs beneath him, allowing him a few minutes of meditation before whatever initiation that Ozpin had planned.

“I think they should say ‘sorry this place stinks like a Beowolf’s butt. I’ll get someone on it right away’.” Emma fired back at her brother playfully, eliciting a slight chuckle from him

“It doesn’t bother me that much,” Amber replied as she laced up her boots tightly. “It’s nothing compared to the smell of Atlesian engine grease anyway.” Amber’s choice of combat attire reflected the time she spent in Atlas, resembling the military fatigues that were commonplace among the special operators in the Atlesian Army. The traditional camouflage pattern in Arctic Blue was swapped out in favor of a more organic green shade. Amber picked up Wrath of Terminus, her pump-action shotgun/grenade launcher, and racked the pump a few times to clear it of any blockage, then began loading, alternating between shells of Burn and Ice dust. She then loaded the second ammunition slot with more volatile Burn rounds for a bigger boom when she needed it, following that by checking to make sure her Savage Cyclone dagger was firmly in its sheath on her ankle, its spiraled blade sharpened almost to perfection.

Jack said nothing, a first for the usually chatty de-facto leader of this unofficial team. His attention was focused on his twin pistols, cleaning the actions and checking the sights, then activating their transformation and spinning them wild-west style into twin katanas, their secondary form. Amber watched him with a touch of curiosity in her cobalt-blue eyes, running them up and down his form. He was dressed in military-style black boots, dark blue jeans, and a sleeveless shirt underneath an open-fronted button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his biceps. Jack’s gun-metal grays were trained on the edge of his blades, inspecting every inch as he ran his small whetstone up and down the blade, sharpening it almost to the point that it could cut through solid steel.

“Something in those blades revealing the secrets of the universe to you, Tiger?” Amber said with a slight smirk, leaning her back against the row of lockers behind her.

The wolf ears on Jack’s head perked up as he glanced away from his swords, locking eyes with Amber and returning the smirk in kind as he spun his Gemini Jū-kin back into their pistol form and slipped them back into their shoulder-holsters. Standing and putting on his sunglasses, he turned to his friends and took a deep breath, his eyes connecting with each member of his team as he spoke, his deep yet smooth voice just loud enough for his team to hear him.

“Amber, Danny, Emma, today’s the day we start our training as Huntsmen and Huntresses. We’ve survived through countless fights together, and won more fights together than even I can count, but now the real fight begins. We’ve spent the last seven years as a team, and no matter what Ozpin has planned for us first-years, we will emerge from this as a team as well. We will emerge from this mystery challenge with not only the best performance, but without even a scratch. Why? Because we are Team JADE, and we are never as strong as when we stand as one.  Before I continue this motivational speech, are there any questions?”

“I’ve got two questions.” Emma said, her hand raised high before she finished her sentence. “Firstly,” she pointed over at a silver-eyed girl in a red hood that was roughly two years younger than everyone else in the room, “did I hear that girl just call her weapon ‘sweetheart’? And two, what in the name of _The Four Maidens_ is a landing strategy?”


	2. A Vulpine Shadow

Ozpin watched the video feed on his scroll with intense interest as Glynda paced behind him, her waist-length cape trailing a short distance behind her. 

“It seems that most of the first-years have partnered up.” Glynda said, her scroll showing the numerous pairs that had been formed and a few students still in the field solo. She sighed slightly, her eyes falling on a panel showing a blond-haired boy of average height and plain white armor walking alongside a red-haired young woman a little taller than her partner who held herself with the confidence of a champion. “I don’t care what his transcripts say; That Jaune fellow is not ready for this level of combat. I guess we’ll find out soon enough,” she said, slipping her scroll back into her pocket.

Ozpin barely responded, his eyes and attention mostly trained on two screens. The first screen showed a short girl in a red hood with a white-haired girl pacing around her, and the other showing a young man in sunglasses brushing off leaves from his jeans, his wolf ears twitching slightly as they took in his surroundings.

“That Corvus boy seems to have some potential.” The feminine voice came from behind the two professors, seemingly from out of nowhere.

Glynda turned with a whirl, grabbing at her riding crop. Seeing who the speaker was, she relaxed and sighed. “Miss Patricia Pyre, you really need to learn when and when not to be stealthy. You just might sneak up on the wrong person at the wrong time.”

“My apologies, Glynda,” Patricia said, a teasing smirk crossing her lips. “I didn’t know that you were so jumpy.” Patricia was a 17-year-old Fox Faunus who was interning as a teacher’s assistant in Beacon. After graduating from Signal Academy with top marks in combat skills, she applied to Beacon as a student, and would have been accepted, if there were another opening for students. Instead, she was hired by Ozpin as an intern and teacher’s aide, assigning her to Glynda’s combat class. As was status-quo for her, she was wearing a black t-shirt underneath a vermillion-colored floor length blazer and fitted dark jeans with red highlights. The Blazer hid her powerful shotgun, which rested in its cradle across her back and was loaded almost exclusively with Burn and Ice dust. Her hood, currently down, would cover her face in shadow and had a small fox-like tail attached to it at the base. She walked toward the two proctors with a slow, purposeful gait, her blazer spreading behind her slightly. The slight sway of her hips bringing attention to the twin tomahawk-style battle axes strapped to her thighs. Standing next to Ozpin, she glanced over his shoulder at his scroll and watched Corvus’s progress. “If you don’t mind, Professor Ozpin, I would like to get a closer look at Corvus. Measure his performance for myself?”

Ozpin looked at her with mild amusement behind his glasses. He nodded and motioned with his cane toward the Emerald Forest. “Be my guest. Be sure to report whatever you deem necessary. Be sure to use your usual code-name in your transmissions, Volpe.”

Patricia smiled broadly and pulled her hood up over her head, then sprinted towards the cliff. Leaping out over the immense drop, she pulled her shotgun from its sling across her back and fired a powerful blast at the ground, propelling her toward her quarry.

“She sure is excitable, isn’t she…” Glynda said, shaking her head with a slight sigh.

“Wouldn’t you be if you saw what might be a worthy challenge?” Ozpin replied, glancing at Glynda for a moment, then returning his gaze back to his scroll.


	3. A Grimm Shadow

Jack stared up into the tree-lined sky, his sunglasses blocking most of the glare but he still reflexively raised his hand to shield his eyes from a few errant rays of sunlight that were bleeding through the treetops. He inhaled deeply, a smile working its way across his visage.

_ I guess you never really know how much you miss something until you find it again _ , he thought, the greenery reminding him of a small oasis near his first home in Vacuo. 

He decided to take a rare moment and enjoy his surroundings. While mostly comprised of verdant green trees, there were numerous bushes, flowering plants, and wild berry bushes. He closed his eyes, training his ears and nose to the wind, letting the scents and sounds come to him. The sounds came to him slowly at first, then stronger. He heard a rapidly-paced dash and what appeared to be the sound of flower petals dancing in the wind, rapid gunfire accompanied by the hissing of a King Taijitu, the soft voice of a woman whose name he could not place, but recognized from the advertisements for Pumpkin Pete’s Marshmallow Flakes cereal that he had seen a few years ago, some growls from a number of angry Beowolves and Ursai not far from his location, a loud and powerful shotgun blast somewhere above and behind him, and the characteristic back-and-forth banter between his twinborn teammates.

His wolf ears then perked up, hearing a sound that he was all too familiar with. A broad grin crossed his lips, revealing the near razor-sharp canine fangs that were the second characteristic of his Wolf Faunus nature. He turned and ran in the direction of the explosions, his grin broadening and revealing more of his fangs as his stride turned into a dash on all fours, charging through the woods like a Timber Wolf in pursuit of its prey.  _ I’d know that shotgun anywhere _ , He thought as he blasted through the woods around him like a demon possessed.  _ I found you, Amber _ .

 

* * *

 

 

Amber grunted as her back hit hard against a tree. Although she had blocked the Alpha Beowolf’s paw swipe, the force from it was still enough to knock her back several feet. Mentally combining that with the hard impact on the ground she sustained from her less-than-perfect landing strategy, she knew that her Aura level had to be somewhere in the yellow by now. Looking up into the beast’s crimson red eyes, she cracked a smile and stood, racking the pump-action of Terminus and switching it from its grenade ammunition slots to its standard shell rounds.

“If that’s the best you beasts have, this fight won’t even be long enough for me to limber up.” She leered at the Alpha, her eyes scanning the group encircling her. “Okay, let’s analyze the situation here,” she said, more to herself than the beasts. “One Alpha Beowolf leading the pack, and six of the garden-variety pups.”  Slipping her finger inside the trigger guard of her weapon, she allowed herself a slight chuckle. “I guess somebody put my test on Easy Mode.” 

Almost seeming to understand her verbal jab, the Alpha howled back at her, and was echoed by the pack of Grimm around the two combatants. Lunging forward for another vicious swipe of its razor-sharp claws, the Alpha had unknowingly sealed its fate.

Sidestepping the swipe, Amber shoved the barrel of Terminus between the teeth of her foe and pulled the trigger, blasting the Alpha’s head into infinitesimal pieces. Two of the closer “garden variety” Beowolves lunged at her from either side. Using the recoil from her first shot, she released her grip on her weapon and allowed it to move backwards according to its own momentum. She grabbed the pump-action before it slipped from her hand and racking it single-handedly, she bashed one beast in the head with the butt of her weapon and side-kicked the other just beneath its chin. Pulling her Savage Cyclone dagger from its sheath and replacing her grip on the stock and trigger, she effortlessly dispatched the two attackers, blowing one mind with Terminus, and the other receiving an impromptu lobotomy with her dagger. The two Beowolves scattered to the wind after their defeat, leaving Amber panting slightly from the exertion. “Remind me to do more cardio.” She gasped.

The final four Grimm dogs snarled and charged her in unison, attempting to take advantage of her weakened state. Amber braced herself for the attack, reflexively bringing her arms into a defensive block and closing her eyes in anticipation of the onslaught as the beast’s path drew them closer…

**Author's Note:**

> So, what did y'all think? Comments and constructive criticisms are welcome. Thanks for tuning in and I hope you enjoy the next chapter?


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